CEFR levels against IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge and Duolingo
| CEFR level | IELTS band | TOEFL iBT (1–6) | TOEFL iBT (0–120) | Cambridge exam | Cambridge Scale | Duolingo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 · Beginner | not reported | 1 – 1.5 | 0 – 23 | A1 Movers (young learners) | 100 – 119 | 10 – 55 |
| A2 · Elementary | 3.0 – 4.0 | 2 – 2.5 | 24 – 43 | A2 Key | 120 – 139 | 10 – 55 |
| B1 · Intermediate | 4.0 – 5.0 | 3 – 3.5 | 44 – 71 | B1 Preliminary | 140 – 159 | 60 – 85 |
| B2 · Upper-Intermediate | 5.5 – 6.5 | 4 – 4.5 | 72 – 94 | B2 First | 160 – 179 | 90 – 115 |
| C1 · Advanced | 7.0 – 8.0 | 5 – 5.5 | 95 – 113 | C1 Advanced | 180 – 199 | 120 – 160 |
| C2 · Mastery | 8.5 – 9.0 | 6 | 114 – 120 | C2 Proficiency | 200 – 230 | not reported |
These alignments are approximate, and every organisation that publishes one says so. The CEFR describes what a learner can do; an exam score summarises how one person performed on one test on one day. The two do not convert, they correspond — bands overlap at the edges, different exams disagree by half a level, and an institution’s own published requirement always outranks any comparison chart, including this one.
Row by row, where a figure is missing or shared
- A1: Cambridge English publishes no guided-learning-hours figure for A1 — its table starts at A2. Any site quoting an exact A1 hours number is quoting itself.
- A1: IELTS is not built to measure this far down the scale, and a sitting at A1 would not tell you anything you did not already know.
- A1: The Duolingo English Test reports the bottom of its scale as one A1–A2 band and does not separate the two.
- A2: The Duolingo English Test reports A1 and A2 together as a single band, so a score here does not distinguish the two.
- B2: This is the row most university and visa requirements are written against, which is why it is the one people most often arrive here to check.
- C1: The Duolingo English Test scale ends at 160, inside this band, so it does not report a level above C1.
- C2: C2 is not "native speaker". It describes a very high command of the language, and plenty of first-language speakers would not demonstrate every C2 descriptor on a bad day.
Why "CEFR to IELTS" is not a conversion
The most common question this page gets asked is some form of what is B2 in IELTS?, and the honest answer starts by rejecting the premise. The two scales are not different units for the same quantity, the way centimetres and inches are. They measure different things.
The CEFR describes what a learner can do — it is a statement about a person, assembled from evidence over time, and it has no upper or lower bound within a level. An exam band summarises a performance — it is a statement about one sitting, on one day, on one set of tasks, compressed into a single number so that it can be compared.
That difference has practical consequences. A single person can sit two exams a fortnight apart and map to two different CEFR levels, without anything about their English having changed, because the exams weight the four skills differently and because performance varies. It is also why a band range is given for each level rather than a single band: the overlap at the edges is real, not imprecision in the chart.
The other asymmetry worth knowing: IELTS is designed to discriminate most finely in the middle and upper range, roughly B1 to C2. Below about band 4 it says very little, which is why the A1 row of any CEFR-to-IELTS table is either empty or guesswork.
How to read the table without being misled
The institution’s requirement wins
Every comparison chart, including this one, is a general alignment. If a university states a specific band with per-skill minimums, that is the requirement — a chart showing your CEFR level as equivalent carries no weight in an admissions decision.
Ranges overlap on purpose
Band 6.5 sits near the top of B2 and band 7.0 near the bottom of C1, and a candidate who scored either could reasonably be described as sitting between the two levels. The overlap is a property of the scales, not a hedge.
An overall score hides its parts
Two candidates with the same overall band can have very different profiles — one even across four skills, one carried by reading and let down by speaking. The CEFR level implied by the overall figure describes neither of them exactly.
Two TOEFL scales are in circulation
ETS moved TOEFL iBT to a 1–6 band scale for tests taken from 21 January 2026, aligned deliberately to the CEFR, and reports a comparable 0–120 total alongside it during a two-year transition. Published requirements still frequently quote the old scale, so both columns are given.
A1 to C2 in IELTS bands, specifically
Taking the IELTS column on its own, because it is the one most often asked about: there is no meaningful A1 IELTS score. The test is not built to measure there, and a candidate at A1 would score at the bottom of the scale without the result distinguishing them from anyone else at the bottom of the scale.
From A2 upwards the bands are informative, and the shape of them is worth noticing. The A2 and B1 ranges are narrow and adjacent, B2 occupies the middle of the scale where most candidates sit and where the test discriminates best, and C1 and C2 occupy the top two bands with very few candidates in the highest.
If your target is a specific band, the useful reading is not "which level am I" but "how far is the gap". A B1 learner aiming at band 7 is two levels away, which is a year or more of language work and cannot be closed by exam technique. A B2 learner aiming at 6.5 may well need only format practice and timing. Establishing which of those two situations you are in is the most valuable thing this table can do for you.